By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Wednesday recorded a trading volume of one billion shares for the first time in 16 years, thanks mainly to contributions by a handful of ‘penny stocks’.
The session was very concentrated in terms of the number of stocks that boosted the huge volume, with WorldCall Telecom Ltd (WTL) alone contributing 37 per cent. Another 51pc of the historic volume was driven by only three, and mostly penny, stocks, according to stock strategist Khurram Schehzad.
Among the 10 volume leaders, WTL remained at the top by contributing 370 million shares, the price of stock closing at only Rs1.68.
K-Electric Ltd (KEL), another low priced scrip at Rs4.54, was the second-highest traded stock with a volume of 107m shares. Telecard rounded off the top three contributors. Other volume leaders were also low priced.
Meanwhile, the stock market fell for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, with the KSE-100 index down 30.48 points to 46,644 points as the 47,000 level is showing strong resistance.
Cement sector performed against the trend where out of 19 stocks, 17 gained in the range of 2.5pc to 7.5pc.
NRL, in the refinery sector, also staged a rally in the last hour of trading. Most other sectors including banking, autos, steel, technology and pharma saw heavy profit-taking. Exploration and production (E&P) stocks, which were showing signs of recovery due to recent record increase in international oil prices, suffered heavy battering on Wednesday.
Earlier on January 26, The Monetary Policy Statement had provided a look into future policy, which boosted investor confidence. Over 880 million shares were traded in the stock market Tuesday. A total of 600 million shares were traded in the regular market while 280 million were traded in the futures market.
A 13-year high was achieved when the value of trade at the PSX reached Rs45.7 billion, according to Arif Habib Limited. This does not count a rise in 2017 when Pakistan was included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Experts say investors appear to be satisfied with Pakistan’s economic outlook therefore they are investing in the stock market.
Trading of cement and technology sector shares remained higher than others. Investors were also reacting to news of rising cement prices. The PSX gained 200 points and KSE-100 Index closed at 46,287. On Tuesday, the index traded in a narrow range, registering its intraday high at 46,990.92 after it gained 269.05 points, but failing to sustain the momentum, the index touched its intra-day low at 46,628.97 after losing 92.90 points.
Investors remained cautious throughout the day, despite anticipation of better quarterly results as well as continued bull-run in international crude oil prices. Although investors’ injected a short-lived momentum, and took new positions in Oil Marketing companies, Exploration &Production and refinery sectors, but persistent selling pressure in the banking sector dragged the index lower towards the end. Irfan Saeed, Senior Vice President, BMA Capital Management Limited said Investors will continue to tread cautiously.
